Engine timer



Nov. 24,1925- W. M. DAVIDSON ENGINE TIMER Filed Nov 27, 1923 A I I MIA Fatented Nov. 24, 1925.

UNITE ENGINE TIMER.

Application filed November 27, 1923.

To all lr/zo-m, it m (13 comer/7 TiQ it known that I, lVILLia'n M. DAYIDSUN, a citizen of the United States, residing, at East View. in the coinity of Hardin and State of Kent cky, have invented certain new and useful. Improvements in Engine i.i1ners; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled .in the art to which it appertains to make: and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in engine timers of the type in which a. race ring of insulated material is mounted in the timer shell and is provided with a flat face at an angle to its axis, for co-action with a rotary brush, a plurality of contacts being .in'lbedded in the race ring and exposed at said flat face thereof for engagement by the brush.

()ne object of the invention is to provide unique means for electrically connecting the wire terminals to the contacts without the necessity of using bolts and nuts, and the usual insulators which are now commonly cnnployed- A. still further object of the invention is to provide the contacts and the brush with contact surfaces of such shape as to obtain much better results than usual, by insuring instantaneous electrical connection between said surfaces, as soon as they come in contact with ea ch other.

lVit-h the foregoing in view, the invention resides in the novel subject matter hereina'it'ter (lQSQlllJk-Kl and claimed, the description being su n leuiented by the accompanying drawings.

Figure 'l is an inside elevation of a timer constructed in accm'da'uce with my invention.

l igurc is a vertical sectional view as indicated by line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Figure 3 is a vertical section as indicated by line 3-3 Fig. 2.

Figure l: is a sectional view on line t-4= of F ig. 3.

Tu the drawings above briefly described, the numeral 1 designates a suitably con structed timer shell. adapted to be mounted upon the motor in the usual way, said shell being shown as provided with the usual lug 2 by means of which the well known adjusting link may be connected to said shell for advancing and retarding the spark. The outer end of the shell 1 is shown as Serial No. 677,322.

formed with a shallow socket in which the usual spring arm is received for holding the shell in place against the motor.

lVithin the shell 1, is a comnn'ltator disk or race ring t formed of any desired hard, insulating material, compressed paper or fibre being prci'ierably used. This ring and the hereinafter described parts which it carries, constitutes the stator of the timer or circuit maker and breaker. In the construction shown, the ring is provided with. opposed flat faces 5 both of which are preferably at right angles to the ring axis. At suitable intervals, the ring is formed with contact-receiving openings 6 from one fiat face to the other, and metal contact blocks or plugs 7 are securely held in these openings, the blocks being formed with flat ends which are flush with the faces The blocks may either be pressed into pre-formed openings in the ring 4, or the latter may be, in some instances, molded around said blocks. Between the blocks 7, the flat surfaces 5 of the ring at are preferably formed with oil grooves 8. To secure the ring a in the shell 1, any desired means may be employed, but I. prefer to make use of a pair of screws 5.) for this purpose. When these screws are removed, the entire ring 4 may be removed from the casing, reversed and then re-secured in place. Thus, after one face of the ring and contacts have worn, the other faces may be presented for use, to obtain addi tional life.

In the preferred form of construction, the shell 1 is provider: with a flexible conduit 10 through which all of the current conductin wires 11 extend, and the outer peripheral edge of the ring 4t is formed with a circumferential groove IE to receive portions of these wires, as illustrated in Fig. The ring is formed with radial wire-receiving grooves 12% which open into an inner circiunferentia-l groove 14: formed in the inner edge of the ring, the contact blocks 7 being preferably exposed at said inner groove l jl. This inner groove 14: is intended to receive the free end portions of the wires 11 and the ter terminals of these wires are exposed and are preferably folded upon each other for con tact wit-h the inner ends of the contact blocks 7. These blocks are formed with radial. openings 15 alining with other openings 16 in the ring 41 to receive longitudinally split, headed fasteners 17. These fasteners straddle the exposed terminals 18 of fill the wires ll and are driven outwardly through the openings 15, the outer ends of the fasteners being spread as indicated at 17 to secure them in place, thereby effectively connecting the wires with the contact blocks without the necessity of bolts or screws, or any insulators other than the ring Preferably, the inner ends of the blocks 7 are countersunk somewhat as indicated at 19, so that the wire terminals 18 may be forced into the countersinks by the fasteners 17, to obtain the best contact possible. The outer ends also of the openings 15 may be slightly countersunk as indicated at 20, to permit easy spreading of the ends 17 of the fastoners 17. r

In the preferred form of construction, opposite edges of the contact blocks '7 are disposed on radial lines and these blocks,

are thus of substantially wedge shape. (Io-operating with these blocks, is a. brusharrying rotor consisting of a four-sided contact block or shoe 21. which is pivotally carried by a pivoted brush arm 22, this arm being mounted on a suitable hub 21% and being influenced by a spring 2%, so as to always hold the block 21 in contact with the exposed surface 5 of the ring st. so that it may successively engage the contact blocks '7. As disclosed in Fig. 1, each contact surface of the block 21 is wedge-shaped, so that its edges 25 are disposed on truly radial. lines. Thus, the leading edge 25 will come in contact throughout its length with the edges of the contact blocks '7 as they are successively encountered, thus providing for much better electrical engagement than. if contact faces of other designs were used.

The block 2i may be rotated whenever desired to dispose a new contact surface, when the surface last used has become worn, and while the block might be pivotally mounted in any suitable manner for pro during this result, I have shown it mounted upon a cotter pin 26, which pin n'iay be removed when turning the block from one position to another.

By employing the construction shown and described, or a substantial equivalent thereof, a timer is provided which is simple and inexpensive, may be easily installed, and will cause no trouble when in use, the conslruction being such as to obtain unusually smooth running of the motor with practical ly no 2' on the timer parts. \Vhenever such wear does occur, however, the ring l may be reversed and a new surface of the shoe 2]. exposed for use. Very little oil is required in the operation of the timer and in order to permit any surplus oil or grease leaking into the-shell 1 to run therefrom, the bottom of said shell is preferably formed with an oil draining opening 2?.

As excellent results are obtainable from the details disclosed, they are preferably followed, but within the scope of the invention as claimed, numerous minor changes may be made.

1 claim:

1. A timer comprising a shell, a race ring of insulating material secured therein and having a ll-at face at an angle to its axis, contacts embedded in said ring and having radial openin s, and longitudinally split fasteners for reception in said openings and adapted to straddle wire terminals to electrically connect them with said contacts, said ring being recessed to permit spreading of the ends of said fasteners to secure them against removal.

2. A timer comprising a shell having a wire-receiving opening in its wall, a race ring of insulating material secured in said shell and having circumferential grooves in its inner and outer edges connected by wirereceiving openin s, said ring having a flat face at an angle to its axis, spaced contacts embedded. in said ring and exposed at said flat face thereof, said contacts having radial openings, current conducting wires received in said grooves and said vile-receiving openings and having exposed terminals in the inner groove at the inner ends of said radial openings, and split fasteners straddling said wire terminals and passed out wardly through said radial openings, the outer ends of said fasteners being spread to secure them in place.

3. A structiiire specified in claim 2; said contacts being exposed at said inner groove and being held in direct contact with, said wire terminals by said fasteners.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature.

W IL 1' ll AM M. DAV IDSON. 

